The Giver Euphemism Analysis

The Giver is a novel by Lois Lowry, written and published in 1993. The Giver is not her first novel, she has written many other children’s fiction and is well known for her stories about Anastasia Krupnik – funny stories that have been hugely popular with young readers since the first one was published in 1979. She has been writing children’s fiction for a long time now, but she was herself unaware of the fact that The Giver will not be considered as the children’s book rather, a young adult or adult fiction. The Giver was one of the earliest novels of Lois Lowry which has been set up in a totalitarian community, and has controlled even the memories of people. The Giver revolves around the community which has the concept of Sameness. The elders

The vocabulary had to be regulated for the smooth functioning of the community and that notion of trust, Elders cannot make mistake shall never be broken. Euphemisms are when one wants to use a milder word or phrase in place of a harsher or blunt word while referring to something unpleasant or undesirable. There are many examples of euphemisms in this novel. The word Released has been used to cover the trauma of death. For Jonas before knowing the actual meaning of Released, he believed that people who were Released were sent to Elsewhere, Elsewhere be also a euphemism used to display the life after Release. It was very shocking for him to know the truth of being Released into Elsewhere because he considered it to be joyful occasion but, was unaware that people were killed in the name of being Released. The community did not want to have old people or abnormal people in their society who could hinder the functioning of community. He could not take that how his father was going to release Gabriel, a new born, whom his father was taking care of as a Nurturer. The Giver gave Jonas the memory of his father releasing one of the twins, who weighed less than the other twin. He saw his father injecting the child and within a fraction of seconds the child stopped responding, he was then put into a box and thrown out of the window which was connected to Elsewhere. This memory was one of the most painful memories he received and after this memory was given to him, he decided to cross the boundary of the community and save Gabriel from release. It is very inspiring that how a boy of twelve saves a new born and survives with the help of memories he received from the Giver. Elsewhere is nothing more but another euphemism which